NYC OPHTHALMOLOGIST DELIVERS TESTIMONY BEFORE HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ON ACA DIFFICULTIES

WESTBURY, NY (12/12/2013)(readMedia)-- New York City ophthalmologist and MSSNY member Dr. Patricia McLaughlin today delivered testimony before the United States House of Representatives Oversight & Government Reform Committee about the difficulties she is experiencing with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its impact on her patients and her employees. The purpose of the hearing was to hear from practicing physicians, as well as health policy thought leaders, regarding the impact of the ACA on premiums and provider networks.

Dr. McLaughlin highlighted the "double whammy" she has experienced of both having the coverage she had provided to her employees being terminated by Empire, and replaced with a less generous plan with higher out of pocket costs, as well as the fact that she was dropped as a participating physician for the replacement plan. Moreover, many of the specialists that her employees see were not in the network of the new coverage plan offered to her. Her story was recently featured in the New York Post.

"No patient should have to give up all the doctors that they trust and have had long-standing doctor-patient relationships over many years" stated Dr. McLaughlin in her testimony. "This has turned into a house of cards about to fall affecting the lives of millions and severing doctor-patient relationships over and over again."

Dr. McLaughlin also noted that exacerbating the problem of more limited networks is the fact that many health plans have substantially reduced or completely eliminated previous coverage options that permitted patients to see the physician of their choice. As reported in multiple recent press accounts, no insurer in downstate New York is offering a policy in the individual Exchange with out of network options and only one insurer is offering policies with out of network coverage in the small business Exchange.

Furthermore, her testimony discussed the problems facing many New York seniors enrolled in the Medicare Advantage program who will lose long-standing treatment relationships with their physicians as a result of insurance companies unfairly dropping large numbers of physicians from their networks. MSSNY along with several other state medical societies and the American Medical Association have urged that Congress take action to push the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to require the insurers to reverse these actions. One federal court judge in Connecticut recently issued a Temporary Restraining Order against UnitedHealthcare requiring them to re-instate terminated physicians.

"By far my greatest concern is the impact upon the doctor-patient relationship as a result of the confluence between these limited networks and the greater numbers of insured lives" stated Dr. McLaughlin "Patients with acute conditions and their primary physicians will lose precious time attempting to locate a qualified specialist and hospital to treat the condition in a timely fashion".